Parry, having been outsmarted by the Angel Gabriel, resigned himself to several more centuries of the present order and went about his business. He did not try to take power directly, because of the covenant made, but he did do his best to find more efficient ways to evoke the evil that was in mortal folk, simplifying classification. Ozymandias reorganized Hell, dividing it into militaristic segments that were run largely by the damned souls themselves; thus those souls knew that their suffering was largely of their own making. When Ozymandias began assembling attractive concubines from among the damned souls, Lilah became restive, and finally Parry took her back, allowing Nefertiti to take an extended holiday in mock Heaven. It was nice to be back with Lilah, after this hiatus; she did know well how to please him.
The world, as it turned out, had one or two additional continents, and Parry found distraction sowing mischief in the mortal exploration and colonization of the "New World." Because the majority of the mortals conducting the colonization were heretical Christians, this was a singular challenge. Soon he had them acting just the way the Church had, conducting witch hunts and martyring their heretics. The Incarnation of Evil might not have been gaining influence in the overall scheme, but certainly he was not losing it either.
The Renaissance arrived, and now Parry saw why Chronos had asked him to spare Milan from the Black Plague. It was indeed an artistic and cultural center, and though it spawned more good than evil, he was glad to see it.
The mortals became more clever at both magic and science, developing both to far more sophisticated applications than had occurred in the past. They would soon have seen through the devices of his mortality; now many mortals possessed similar competence.
He started an advertising campaign to make Hell seem more attractive. It remained of course a place of punishment, and everyone knew that; but it was also the place of expiation for the evil denned in the souls. It was evident that Heaven was not the place to expiate evil, so Parry simply established many levels with diminishing punishment as souls improved. Actually, after the first soul returned from Heaven with the report on its appalling dullness, few if any souls wanted to go there. The truth was that sin, particularly of carnal lust, was far more interesting than the perpetual singing of hosannas. Mock Heaven became increasingly populous, so that even those souls that qualified for release to Heaven preferred to remain. Once he got things squared away with God, he would send up a shipment; the souls would be less reluctant to go if they could go together.
He researched diligently, seeking the Llano, the ultimate song. But his success was imperfect; he was able only to acquire parts of it. The thing was somehow linked to the very foundations of the universe, not to be understood by any ordinary person.
The centuries passed. Parry went to the furnace and interviewed Lucifer, his predecessor. "Are you ready to serve Me yet?" he inquired. "Give up your mortal life so that it is no longer possible for you to be an Incarnation, and I will assign you to some nefarious chore that takes advantage of your propensities."
Lucifer was proud; he declined. Parry came again, fifty years later; Lucifer declined again. But after several such visits, he finally relented, realizing that there was no hope of ousting Parry from the Office. He gave up his mortal life and became a truly damned soul.
Parry assigned him to sundry tasks, lowly at first. As time passed and Lucifer demonstrated increasing loyalty and reliability, Parry promoted him to more responsible tasks. The former Incarnation did have a talent for the business, and was excellent at evoking the hidden evil of mortals.
In this manner the twentieth century approached. "Lucifer, watch for the appearance of one mortal named Niobe Kaftan," he said. "Her presence will commence the final contest between Me and God, and I want to have the advantage from the outset. You will see that it is Mine."
"I shall see that it is Thine," Lucifer agreed.
War had been virtually continuous in the mortal realm, but now it spread more widely, involving most of the nations of the world. Mars, the Incarnation of War, was kept quite busy, and so was Parry. But it was a seemingly minor event relating to that war that abruptly claimed his complete attention.
Lucifer had found Niobe Kaftan in Ireland. She had come into existence as that identity when she married a man some years her junior, Cedric Kaftan, and Lucifer had scrambled to set up a program of nullification. He didn't bother Parry with the details, and Parry had been too busy with the war and the hordes of mixed souls flowing to Hell from that altercation to inquire.
"You know he botched it," Lilah remarked one day.
"What?"
"Lucifer. He freed a demon from Hell to assassinate her, and the stupid demon got the wrong person."
"Assassinate whom?"
"Your nemesis. That woman. Niobe."
Now it registered. "How could Lucifer fail? He's experienced!"
"It seems the woman's husband has a friend who's into magic, and he discovered the plot, and the husband took her place. I can't think why. So he's gone, and she remains."
Parry got busy. He fired Lucifer from the case as a matter of principle; failure in a simple mission was not to be tolerated. Then he went to spy on the young woman. He made himself invisible and entered the cabin where she dwelt with her baby.
He looked at her, and was stunned by her appearance. She was the most beautiful woman of her generation! No wonder the love-struck husband had sacrificed himself for her.
The Angel Gabriel had gained his Master over five hundred years by this deal. Now Parry understood that it was not close to ending here; Gabriel was really trying to win the contest. A woman so lovely that mortal men would gladly throw away their lives for her—and, indeed. Parry himself did not want her to die now. Not while her beauty was fresh. It would be like breaking a priceless vase.
How, then, was he to nullify her impact on the situation? For she would surely proceed to her mischief against him if he did not act to prevent it.
But what form would this mischief take? If he could determine that, then he could formulate a plan to deal with it. There should be many ways to divert the thrust without actually hurting her.
He watched her for a time, but she seemed wholly innocent, merely taking care of herself, her home and her baby boy. Nothing about her, other than her amazing comeliness, indicated any potential for the defeat of the Incarnation of Evil. Her appearance would fade with the years.
Perplexed, he returned to Hell. He summoned Mephistopheles, another former Incarnation of Evil. "You are the most sophisticated and devious of the Lords of Hell," he said. "Fathom the nature of this woman, the widow Niobe Kaftan, and inform Me how she can influence the tangled skein of destiny to give God the victory over Me."
"Gladly, Lord," Mephistopheles said, disappearing. In due course he was back with his report. "The woman is more than she seems," Mephistopheles said. "She is of only ordinary cleverness, and has no particular skill at management, but is extraordinarily attractive."
"What else is news," Parry said wryly. "For days after I saw her, her face appeared in my mind every time I closed my eyes. It put Lilah in a royal snit. But beauty alone no longer launches a thousand ships."
"I am not so sure. She finagled her way to Parnassus in the living state and interviewed several Incarnations."
"She what?"
Mephistopheles smiled. "As You said, she is beautiful. She set fire to a funeral boat she was on, bringing Thanatos, and of course he could not take her soul because she was not yet slated to die. When he saw her—he is after all a man. So he took her to his mansion and had his staff tend to her burns. Then Chronos—"
"Chronos is in on this? He's my friend!"
"She must have smiled at him," Mephistopheles said, enjoying this. "He took her to Fate, who was evidently quite impressed—"
"What would impress that three-headed hog?" Parry growled.
"I wouldn't know; I can't snoop directly on Incarnations. Then he took her to War, who recognized her potential. Then on to Gaea, who told her that her husband had sacrificed himself in her place because she was destined to make much trouble for Satan. That was all; they do not seem to know any more than we do in what manner she will affect You, but they assist her because of it."
"Most of them have always conspired against Me," Parry muttered. "But Chronos—he has always been my friend. I can't understand why he would be involved in this."
"If he is your friend, why don't you ask him?"
"I shall." Parry conjured himself to Purgatory and knocked on the door of the mansion of the Incarnation of Time.
Chronos had changed officeholders since the last time Parry had visited, and this new one was distinctly less friendly than the prior ones had been. What had happened?
"Your office and Mine have always gotten along well," Parry said. "Have I in some way alienated you, Chronos?"
"You gave me a real workout when I assumed the office," Chronos said tightly. "You posed as my friend, but you used me to achieve your own ends. I had to—but why should I tell you, and give you another chance to interfere?"
Parry sighed. "I apologize for what I may do in your past, my future. Evidently things become very difficult then. For several centuries I have been friends with the holders of your office, and I regret learning that has changed."
"It has changed. If that is all—"
"Please, Chronos! Certainly I will leave you alone in the interim, with regret. But I came to ask one question, and if you would be so kind as to answer that—"
"One question," Chronos said grimly.
"Why is the mortal woman Niobe Kaftan important to you?"
"Damn you!" Chronos exclaimed. "Are you trying to torment me worse?"
"No, no! Remember, I am from the other direction! I do not at this stage know. I had no intent to—"
Chronos straightened his expression. "Of course that is true, though you are the realm's most consummate liar. I will answer you, though I curse myself for doing so. Niobe was my lover, and I miss her—" He was unable to finish.
Astonished, Parry made his way out. He had never known Chronos to take a mortal lover! Evidently Niobe's widowhood had made her vulnerable, and the Incarnation had taken advantage of it despite living in the opposite direction. Now that she was, by Chronos' reckoning, about to be married, his affair with her was over, and he was hurting.
The lover of the Incarnation of Time! Now it was easier to comprehend her significance. Chronos' Hourglass was the most powerful magical instrument known, and if she were able to influence him, her mischief could be magnified in ways that Hell itself could hardly combat! No wonder the friendship between their two offices had been sundered; a woman had in her fashion come between them.
What a canny conniver the Angel Gabriel had proved to be! To select a woman so beautiful that she snared the Incarnation of Time himself! It was too bad Gabriel had not been in Hell's employ. Parry had to respect the superior nature of this ploy.
But it had not happened yet. Could he act to prevent the woman from seducing the Incarnation? This was uncertain, because of course Fate was on the other side. Parry could pluck the threads of Fate, but only when she wasn't paying attention; each Incarnation was supreme in his or her own bailiwick. Fate would be protecting Niobe, now that they had met; it would be prohibitively difficult for him to do anything directly.
He had to admire the developing prettiness of this trap. Gabriel had set him up for as nefarious a situation as any demon could have devised. Of course angels were but the positive aspect of demons, formed from ether. Evidently they were not as different from each other as he had assumed.
Well, there was no help for it now but to go home and wait for his opportunity. He would have a demon watch Niobe constantly, and notify him the moment she did anything significant. Meanwhile, he would proceed with his normal business.
He had to admit that despite the awkwardness of his position, he was discovering a certain infernal joy in the challenge. Niobe's beauty was not the least of it; it was much more fun to corrupt a lovely woman than a plain one.
His first alert came several months later. Niobe, after remaining quiescent, had abruptly taken a ship to America for no apparent reason. She was definitely up to something!
Parry joined her on the ship, watching her constantly. But she acted quite normally, avoiding the predatory men and remaining mostly in her cabin, reading.
Then, abruptly. Fate came to her, in the form of a spider. And, while Parry spied from cover. Fate took Niobe in as an Aspect of herself, leaving a prior Aspect of herself in Niobe's body to complete the voyage.
Niobe had become an Aspect of Fate!
Now Parry understood how she was to become Chronos' lover! The Incarnations did indulge each other in this manner on occasion, because they understood each other far better than any mortal could. Niobe was now the youngest and by far the prettiest Aspect of Fate, so this duty naturally would fall to her. He should have realized!
His problem had just been compounded. He knew from his prior observations that Niobe blamed him for the murder of her husband. Lucifer had done it, but it was indeed Parry's responsibility, for he had directed Lucifer to nullify Niobe. So Niobe was his sworn enemy, and now she had enormously increased power.
Again, he had to admire Gabriel's cunning. At every turn, this scheme became more diabolical!
How was he going to do anything about Niobe now? He had to try, lest he forfeit the contest. He could not touch her physically; even had she not become invulnerable as an Incarnation, the two wiser other Aspects of Fate that shared her body would have protected her. He needed to get her alone, and that was impossible.
Except for one occasion. Fate had to go to the Void to fetch the substance for the threads of Life. Clotho, the youngest, was the spinner of the threads; it was always her task to fetch the substance.
Parry knew what the Void was like! He knew that very few could ever face it, let alone negotiate within it. Only the Aspect of Clotho could do it, not the other two.
That was where he could approach her alone. That was where he could corrupt her—if he was ever to do it. Perhaps he would fail, but he had to try.
When the new Clotho made her maiden excursion to the Void, Parry followed her. He knew better than to enter that region of chaos without some kind of guide, but in this case, Niobe was his guide. He would stay with her until she emerged, perforce.
She began at the edge of Purgatory, where a road led toward the strange region beyond. Parry had not realized that chaos could be approached by a road! He followed, invisible and silent; he wanted to be sure she was alone, without her two companion Aspects, before he addressed her.
The road became a path, and the path wended through a thick forest. She spoke once, as if reflecting on something she had heard. "The Incarnation of War, and of Nature. I wonder what business they have here?"
What business indeed! Perhaps Mars sought the raw stuff of violence here, and Gaea the stuff of nature. So they had made a path. But he was sure that they did not go all the way into chaos.
The forest became so thick and the trees so large that the path was hopelessly squeezed and the light was almost cut off. Now Parry saw that Niobe was trailing a thread. That was how she intended to find her way out—by following her thread back! It was a secure device, for no one but her fellow Aspect Atropos could cut that thread of Life. Not when Fate was paying attention. Lucifer had to fudge the records in Purgatory to arrange for the death of Niobe—and even then, the ploy had gone wrong, taking out the wrong person and complicating Parry's challenge. It was dangerous to mess with Fate.
Niobe squeezed through the densest part of the forest, and Parry followed, having less difficulty because he was able to change his form. He became an invisible bird, flitting through crevices too narrow for his human form. Had Niobe not been an extremely slender figure overall, she would not have made it. Or was it that the path somehow accommodated her contours, which were by no means minor, so that she alone could pass?
Now the forest thinned, but the trees were misshaped and miscolored. Chaos was drawing nigh.
He followed her on through a region of vertigo, a pinwheel path. Then the path become a stream. Niobe hesitated, then removed her yellow cloak, laid it down, and sat on it, forming a floating craft of it. She was now in her underwear, and the contours that had been only hinted at before became fully evident. What a creature she was! He could have stared at her for a decade, while jealous fumes rose from Lilah.
That gave him a notion of how to corrupt her. He knew that she was to become Chronos' lover—lucky Chronos!—and that she was presently a widow and conservative about her relationship with any other man. If he played upon that situation, stressing the sordid interpretation, he might turn her off it before it started. She might even resign her office within the trial period. That would certainly foil much of Gabriel's plan for her.
Niobe floated out into the center of the Void, where Parry did not dare go. He was afraid he would get lost despite being near her, and did not care to risk it. JHVH would probably rescue him again if he called, but he preferred not to impose on the Deity of the Jews again if he could avoid it.
The woman seemed to spend an eternity there, gathering the substance of chaos into her craft. She, alone of all, could spin chaos into thread. At last she emerged, hauling herself along by the thread she had played out behind.
As she came to the solid portion of the path. Parry knew it was time for him to act. He did not like what he had to do, but certainly it would be better to nullify the woman this way than Lucifer's way.
He made himself visible. "Hi, babe." Niobe jumped. She caught sight of him, and stood appalled.
"I hate you!" she cried. Parry laughed, getting into the role. "Of course you do, you lovely creature."
"You killed my husband!" she flared. Oh, she was as lovely in her anger as in her confusion!
He saw that he could, by the mechanism of judicious interpretation, use her very grief for her husband to turn her away from the other Incarnations. First he explained about the nature of the substance of chaos: good and evil inextricably mixed, so that the whole of the process of mortal living was required to define and separate the two. He made sure to refer frequently to her appearance, calling her "sweets" and "sugar" and "delicious" and "luscious plum" so as to prepare her for the denouncement. The irony was that it was true; she was the most delectable mortal creature he had encountered, though she was now immortal. He was using the terms for a purpose, but each time he did, it reminded him of the truth of it. Niobe really was not his type, but even so, her beauty smote him with increasing force. She was appropriately appalled. "All life is just a laboratory to classify the substance of the Void?"
"Indeed. Beautiful, isn't it? Just like you, cutie," If only his words were not so true! He wished he were not her antagonist, so that he could—what? Use this Aspect of Fate as Chronos would? No chance of that! No chance? Suddenly he realized that this could be another aspect of Gabriel's ploy. To cause the Incarnation of Evil. FOR LOVE OF EVIL. MS himself to be smitten by one of the Incarnations on God's side! That would surely destroy his effectiveness in opposing God! It was insidiously clever: Gabriel had made sure that Parry would take a personal interest in this woman, so as to discover how to nullify her, knowing that Parry had always had an eye for the fairest of female forms. That he had grown inevitably tired of the knowledgeability of demonesses and damned souls, and found true innocence appealing. Niobe was perfectly cast to appeal to him!
Parry steeled himself and proceeded to the necessary finale. "The Incarnations are human, doll," he said. "They have human ambitions, weaknesses and lusts."
She reacted beautifully, in the various senses of the word. "Lusts! What are you talking about?"
"I'm so glad you asked, precious." He went on to introduce the notion of Chronos' need for a lovely young female Incarnation. She continued to react with ideal horror. On one level he hated what he was doing, but on another he liked it, because it was all too easy to imagine himself in Chronos' position. "You see, honeypot, we Incarnations have to get along with each other. We are not antagonists; we must cooperate. Chronos can be awkward, because he lives backward, but in this respect he is typically human."
"I can't believe that!"
"You may verify it very simply, roundheels," he said cruelly. "Ask Chronos. He remembers."
She was appalled, but beginning to believe. Now he proceeded to the lie, his specialty. He explained how the Incarnations could have cooperated to eliminate Niobe's mortal husband, so that the most beautiful of mortal women could become an Incarnation and satisfy Chronos' lust. "I suggest you relax and enjoy it, toots," he concluded.
"Relax, hell!" she screamed, forgetting her innocence enough to utter that foul word.
He smiled. "Exactly." He had really gotten through to her; she was now ready to kill Chronos.
He added one more detail, unable to resist. He assumed the likeness of her departed husband.
She recognized it, and screamed incoherently at him.
"Shall I kiss you, sweetlips?" he inquired. "I, too, find you desirable, and can make you forget—"
She struck at him with her distaff. "Get out! Get out!"
Parry resumed his normal form. "Another time, perhaps, when you have been suitably broken in." That was the final fillup; she would remember it the moment she saw Chronos. First the Lord of Time, then the Lord of Evil.
He faded out, leaving her sobbing with grief and outrage. He watched long enough to be sure she had not been feigning.
He left her, satisfied that he had done what he could. But somehow he had no joy in this operation. He hated to do this to such a lovely young woman, and he was sorry to do it to Chronos, whose other officeholders had been his only friends among the Incarnations. But mostly he was ashamed of the fact that he had been striking as much at his own sensitivities as at hers; he really did find her desirable, and hated the necessity of treating such a creature with such contempt.
But the treatment was not effective, almost to his relief. The other Aspects of Fate managed to talk Niobe around, and she proceeded to have the affair with Chronos. She opposed Satan implacably, and he could hardly blame her. His effort to turn her off Chronos had been a double-or-nothing gesture; he had known that if it proved unsuccessful, all her anger would focus on him, Satan.
But her tenure as Clotho did not seem to alter that balance of good and evil in the mortal world significantly. Parry was unable to make real progress, but he did fend off the mischief of the other Incarnations. The standoff that had existed for centuries continued.
Mephistopheles continued to watch, however, for the mischief had three generations to run. Perhaps it was not Niobe but her son or his offspring that would prove to be the key.
That son grew up to be a magician of surprising potential. But he was unmarried. If he died without issue, that would end the matter, for as long as Niobe remained an Incarnation she could not have another child. Incarnations were frozen at the age they entered the office unless, as in his own case, they had the wit to choose to settle in at another age. Lilah had known, and given him the clue at the outset. But whatever the physical age, their inability to change meant sterility, for the process of gestation was an aspect of aging.
Then the magician son decided to marry his cousin Blenda, who was another mortal of Niobe's stripe: the most beautiful other generation. Mephistopheles informed Parry the moment the engagement was made.
"Take him out," Parry said curtly. He did not like such business, but he could not afford to have that third generation launched.
"I shall have to free a demon to the mortal realm, my Lord," Mephistopheles said.
That was a complicated business; demons were hard to free for even a few hours, and the prospects were limited. But this was critical. "Do it."
Mephistopheles faded out with a smile; he liked dirty business.
But again destiny proved to be difficult to balk. The ploy misfired, and instead of the magician or his bride it was the bride's mother the demon killed. Gabriel's ploy continued, and Niobe was, if anything, even more implacably set against Satan.
Niobe continued to be a nuisance. She tried to save a Senator Parry had marked for extinction, and succeeded in that; Parry was, however, able to salvage the situation by destroying the Senator's reputation instead.
Then, abruptly, Niobe decided to step down from office. "What?" Parry demanded, astonished. "How can she interfere with Me if she steps down?"
"She can bear another child," Lilah said darkly.
That would do it! "Find out about this," he snapped.
Lilah vanished. Soon enough she was back with her report. "She plans to marry her husband's cousin Pacian, who has the magic music."
"Music?"
"I thought that would perk Your ears, my Lord! Yes, he does not sing as well as You, but his magic enhances it so that the effect can be as great."
There was a certain malice in her remark that annoyed him, but he kept it reined. He was getting somewhat tired of Lilah's mannerisms, though she remained has most effective sexual partner. One of these decades he would have to send her away on a long assignment so he could have a turn at some fresher female. "Is that all?"
"Plenty more, my Lord. There is a set of prophecies in her possession. It seems that when she was new in office, and still attached to her son, she prevailed on Atropos to pose as a grandmotherly figure and—"
"Atropos!" he interrupted. "The senior Aspect of Fate?
She cuts the threads of Life. Some grandmother!"
"Yes, my Lord. But Atropos took the little boy and his cousin Pacian to two seers who happened to be competent, and asked the same question of each: Whom were the two boys to marry, and what would become of their children?"
"That is of interest to Me," Parry agreed. "Why was I not advised before?"
"The demon that Mephistopheles assigned to spy on them did not realize that the prophecies were valid. Most seers are impostors, making up items to please the clients. So it was only now, when I investigated, that I recognized these prophecies for what they are: sendings from Gabriel. The Angel was giving Niobe a hint of the destiny of her line."
"In such a way that it bypassed the demon," Parry said with grudging admiration. "Continue."
The first seer said, and I quote, 'Each to possess the most beautiful woman of her generation, who will bear him the most talented daughter of her type. Both daughters to stand athwart the tangled skein, and one may marry Death and the other Evil.' "
Parry's jaw dropped.
"The other seer said, and I quote again, 'One to be savior of deer, his child savior of man; other to love an Incarnation, his child to be one. But the skein is tangled.' More she would not say." Parry found his voice. "And Niobe's son, the magician, did marry Pacian's daughter Blenda, the most beautiful woman of her generation. Now Pacian, a widower, is marrying Niobe herself, the most beautiful woman of her generation."
"As I said, my Lord, they were true prophecies. So it seems there will be two daughters, highly talented, and one may marry Thanatos—"
"And the other may marry Me!" Parry finished. "How can this be? I will never marry again!"
"Not while I'm with You," Lilah agreed darkly. "But there is a lot of leeway in that word 'may,' my Lord."
"Not enough leeway! This complicates the plot considerably!"
"The girls will stand athwart a tangled skein," Lilah agreed. "One to save man, the other to be an Incarnation."
"The daughter of the man who loves an Incarnation," Parry agreed. "That would be Pacian. I must watch out for his daughter."
"And for the other girl," she reminded him. "She is the one who will save man—which means You will lose."
"I must be rid of both of them!" Parry snapped. "One is Niobe's daughter, the other her granddaughter."
"But each time You have tried to take out one of that line, You have failed. In fact, it was the last failure that caused Pacian to become a widower, so that now Niobe can marry him. You played into God's hands!"
Parry definitely did not like her attitude. She was enjoying this, in her covert way. "I shall be paying closer attention henceforth," he said darkly. "This contest is not yet done." Still, he heeded the warning of experience; with the amount of attention that was focusing on this matter, it would be extraordinarily difficult to eliminate those girls. He would have to try other methods first, defusing this matter in some more devious and effective manner.
His first chance was to prevent at least one of the girls from coming into existence. Therefore the next time Niobe went to gather chaos from the Void, he intercepted her. That was the one place she had to listen to him, because her other Aspects were damped out and she was alone.
"So you are quitting, cutie," he said, as if it were of no account.
"Go to Hell," she snapped back.
He tried to suggest to her that he was glad she was departing the office, but she was now too canny to be deceived. "I am fated to produce a mortal child who will be a real pain in the tail for you." He could not fool her and, oddly, he found he did not want to. She had fought him for decades, and he had admired her for the same period. He decided to talk seriously. "There are currents of destiny that perhaps only God comprehends. Our glimpses of the future are fleeting and imperfect, but I have taken a reading on your daughter and see only a terrible storm perhaps forty years hence. I do not know the outcome."
"And one may marry Death, the other Evil," she said, recalling the prophecy.
"Why should I ever bind Myself to a mortal woman?" he demanded with genuine ire. Yet he knew that had Niobe herself been interested, in her youth, he would have been sorely tempted. But she had the answer. "She is to be an Incarnation."
"And what woman, whether mortal or Incarnation, would ever bind herself to Me?" There was a second level to that question, because of their past interaction. Even at this stage, if Niobe were to change her mind about him as a man... "Only an evil one," Niobe said. She looked no happier about it than he felt.
"You are indeed a good woman, as well as a lovely one," he said with feeling. "Yet the prophecy—"
"Satan, what are you getting at?"
Now he spoke straight from the heart. "Niobe, there is a tangle coming in your skein that neither of us understands. Something strange is brewing. Let's avoid the whole issue, and oppose each other on conventional grounds. Keep your present office, O lovely woman! Do not generate that child."
"You're crazy!"
"No, I am evil, not crazy. You know Me—" he tried to stop himself, but was carried away by a surge of emotion. "Therefore you will not do for Me what you did for Chronos."
She stared at him. "You—desire my favor?"
"I do desire it." He had not realized it fully until this moment. Perhaps Lilah had, though; that would account for her creeping alienation. She tolerated his affairs with damned souls, but she realized that his love of an Incarnation, particularly this one, was mischief indeed.
"You will never have it!" Niobe said.
"That I know," he said heavily. "Still, I wish you would remain in office."
She laughed in his face.
Now sudden wrath overcame him. He had spoken truth to her, and she had rejected it. That was the humiliation that stung worst! "Then feel the brunt of My wrath!" he cried. "And your child will suffer too. You and yours will rue this hour!" He departed.
He had made a terrific fool of himself, he knew. He had been blinded by the beauty of his opponent, and allowed his true emotion to surface. Now he was in worse trouble than ever.
More than a decade later. Parry's attention was called to Niobe again. He had not bothered with her in the interim, because her nuisance of a magician son had crafted spells to protect her and the children, and the magician knew what he was doing. But now she was taking the two girls into the Hall of the Mountain King to obtain the gifts of instruments that would greatly enhance their powers. He had to prevent that!
He sent a demon to trigger the Mountain King's defenses, so that the gifts could not be removed from the premises. The demon performed, but the Mountain King himself investigated, and as Fate would have it, he recognized Niobe from her period as an Aspect and let the gifts go. It seemed impossible to impede the progress of this juggernaut!
But he continued with the routine business of his office, evoking evil wherever he could. One of the mortal organizations that interfered with his activities was the United Nations. He had succeeded in corrupting aspects of it, but the main part still stood for decency and order in the world, and so remained a problem. He worked out a plan to detonate a psychic stink bomb at its headquarters that would cause the organization to be expelled from America and moved to a hostile country. That would blunt its effectiveness.
Naturally Fate meddled in. He was ready far that. He had arranged irresistible situations that caused all three Aspects to retire at almost the same time, so that Fate was a complete novice at the moment. By the time the new officeholders became experienced and canny, he would have won a major coup. He still hoped to gain a sufficient advantage of the inattentive God before the skein Niobe had started ran its full course; then that skein would become irrelevant.
Then, at last, he would be able to take control, and commence a more efficient and gentle program for defining the universe. The need was becoming more pressing, for in these centuries of God's dereliction mankind was getting rapidly into more trouble. Population was exploding, and the world was getting polluted, and the threat of a holocaustic war was increasing. Someone had to act to abate the situation before everything accomplished in thousands of years was destroyed.
Just to be sure that Fate did not muddle through to a victory, he arranged to have false data inserted in the Purgatory computer. The computer was a modernistic science device that now kept track of the numbers and identities of souls being processed. If the new Fate queried it, she would be sent on a spurious chase. The old Fate would never have been fooled, but the new one should be vulnerable.
All followed through as planned. He could not resist taunting Fate as the denouement of this ploy approached. She had just ventured, in the form of Lachesis, the middle-aged Aspect, into the sample Hell he had instituted on earth as part of his advertising campaign. She had with Gaea's assistance disabused one of the employees there, which annoyed him. So he broached her personally, assuming the standard Satan form, which was one of the regular alternates he used when on official business.
"So now you have nullified the last of the four threads, you meddling frump," he said nastily. "You think you have won."
"Evil is never truly defeated," Lachesis said grimly.
Not if I have My way, he thought. The irony was that though he wore the name of Evil, he was trying to do what was right; it was that God these others served who was negligent. But of course none of them would believe that. Then he told her about the manner in which he had interfered with the Purgatory Computer, causing it to seem to list only selected threads.
"The penalty of being a novice," she muttered ruefully. "I feel very stupid."
"Merely inexperienced," he told her. There was an odd familiarity about her, but probably that was because he had dealt with so many mortals, and so many Incarnations, too; at some time in the past six centuries he had probably encountered someone like her. Then he realized that he might be able to gain an even greater advantage from this, playing further on her inexperience. "I can offer you a better deal."
"You're not to be trusted!"
"Don't depend on trust; depend on common sense. Sometimes what seems good turns out evil in the long run, like the Inquisition." Indeed, he had helped start that, working for God, and then as Satan had succeeded in perverting it to a potent instrument for evil, especially in Spain. "Sometimes what seems evil turns out good, like the Black Plague." That had been his pride, but he discovered too late that the decimation of the labor force which it had accomplished led to a premium on serfs and paved the way for the end of the repressive feudal system. Thus he had accomplished little if any lasting evil, in the sense that he gained no greater proportion of souls for Hell than he might have had he never made the effort. That had taught him caution. Thus he had no abiding commitment to this United Nations mischief; it was mainly a challenge, to discommode Fate.
"What's your pitch, Satan?" she asked with more alertness than he liked.
"I will cancel the psychic stink in exchange for a simple shift in employment for one person. No harm done to her, no evil on her soul, just an inconsequential change." Would she fall for it? No reason why she shouldn't, yet his fortune in this particular matter had been so bad that he hardly trusted it now.
"Who is this person?"
She was nibbling! "A young woman, hardly more than a girl, of no consequence, really."
"So you say. Name the woman."
Here was the tricky part. He knew exactly whom he meant, but could not afford to make it seem important. There were two girls who looked like twins but were actually a generation apart. One was Orb Kaftan, Niobe's daughter, with buckwheat-honey hair, who might marry Evil. Of course that qualification destroyed the validity of the prophecy; anything might happen! The other was Luna Kaftan, Niobe's granddaughter, with the chestnut-brown hair. She was the dangerous one. But she was now protected by Thanatos, who was evidently smitten by her sex appeal; Parry could not touch her directly.
"Oh, she's named Moon, or some such," he said carelessly. "It hardly matters." And what a lie that was! If he could nullify Luna, he could defuse the final aspect of Gabriel's ploy. "She's actually descended from a former Incarnation. Name's—let me see—Kaftan. There are actually two girls, but I want the one with the darker hair."
She was silent, considering this. If she caught on, the ploy was finished—but why should she? She could hardly know the daughters of a former Incarnation, so early in her own career in the office.
"You're up to something," she said at last.
She was biting! "My dear associate, there is no call to trust Me! You can handle it yourself! Simply give me your word that if no bomb goes off at the UN, you will modify the girl's thread to shunt her away from politics."
"No harm will come to the girl?"
"I promise never to harm the girl whose thread you change."
"But your promise is worthless!"
"My word is sacred when properly given." Indeed, though he was the Father of Lies, he had never broken his given word. The same could hardly be said of the mortals who had accepted his gifts in exchange for their souls; they had used any cheap device to weasel out, after using up the gifts.
They made an oath in blood, and it was done. Victory! He had nullified Luna, for it was in politics she had been destined to thwart his last design. He had been unable to fight the devious threads of Fate before, but this change was to be made by Fate herself; this one would be secure. Lachesis agreed to divert the thread of the darker-haired descendent of Niobe Kaftan.
When it was done, he told her how his side of the deal was academic anyway, because Chronos had acted to notify the UN security force about the bomb.
"You know that?" she cried, outraged. "You cheated!"
"Hardly. I agreed to spare the UN, and Niobe's nonpolitical offspring. They will be spared." Then he remembered something: Lachesis had been the first to name Niobe—when he had not. He had been very careful about that, referring only to "a former Incarnation."
Then he made the connection. That seeming familiarity. This was Niobe! Older, no longer as attractive physically, but definitely her. No longer Clotho, but Lachesis!
"I will see that my mortal daughter, Orb, never enters politics," she said sweetly. "An oath is an oath."
"Orb? I meant Luna!"
"Luna was born with clover-honey hair, the lighter of the two. Were you not aware of that, Satan?"
He had not been. He had never examined the girls personally before Luna came to America, but had depended on reports. Luna's hair, evidently, had been dyed. He had fallen for the reversal.
"You came back—to deceive Me!" She only smiled.
He had been suckered after all! He had admire the cleverness of the counter-trap. Niobe was really paying him back for the death of her husband! All he could do now was bow out with grace. "I congratulate you, Niobe, on an excellent counter-ploy."
"That is a compliment indeed, coming from you."
"But now I know you, and I shall not be deceived again. There are other ways." He conjured himself away.
There were indeed other ways. He discovered Niobe's son, the magician, had managed to distort the readout on the balance of good and evil on his soul, so that he was in Purgatory. He belonged in Hell. Parry claimed him now, quite legitimately, and put him in the fires. Then, by some intricate maneuvering, he destroyed the message the magician had left for his daughter: how to enable Fate to prevail against Satan in future encounters. Had she learned that, Parry would have been powerless against Fate; as it was, he could continue trying to confound her, and perhaps would yet succeed in nullifying Luna.
Then Niobe came to him again, and made another deal: she put her own soul on the line in exchange for the chance to locate her son in Hell and get the information from him. This he could not decline. To have a chance to obtain Niobe's soul in Hell, subject to his will—that was the absolute stuff of dreams! He would require her to assume the form of her youth. He would not mistreat her, he would love her, and perhaps in time she would come to return the favor.
Mars supervised the encounter so that it was fair—and once again Niobe won through and got what she had come for. She had defeated him yet another time.
Yet, somehow, Parry didn't mind. He still held the image of Niobe in his mind, as she had been in her luscious youth. Had he won her soul, he could have ravished her hourly. But he knew that would have been a poor substitute for her independent love. He was satisfied to have her escape. The feeling he had for her had never really died.